First Impressions
by Hray1
Summary: A story of their first case together and how they managed to get it solved in spite of each other. Set before season 1. Rated T because I think this case is going to be fairly gruesome.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own or profit of the characters from "Bones" they are the property of Fox and its affiliates. But if HH suddenly wants to give me something for Christmas…**

**Tuesday 7:00am**

Dr. Temperance Brennan slid her ID card through the scanner to unlock the employee entrance to the Jeffersonian Institute. This morning her arms were full, she carried her usual morning coffee, several case files from modular skeletal storage and the first draft of a portion of the PhD. Thesis from her intern, Zack Addy. Juggling the items she managed to unlock her office door and deposit them on the work table near her desk. Brennan sat herself on the chair at her table and began sifting through the materials she had placed there. In short order the case files were laid out in alphabetical order on one end of the table and Zack's thesis was in front of her. Taking a sip of coffee she began reading his work…

"The study of the dimorphic attributes of the human skeletal structure has lead to the understanding that the skeleton is as unique as a singular finger print, the categorization of specific anomalies within the structures further supports the idea that each skeleton is distinguishable from others in terms of geography, race, age, and an innumerable amount of other variables…"

An incessant beeping from her computer alerted Brennan to a new "high priority" email in her inbox. With a growl Brennan stalked to her computer to reading the offending email. It was from her boss, Dr. Goodman.

"Dr. Brennan,

I need to see you in my office in five minutes. This is not negotiable."

Goodman"

With a belabored sigh Brennan pushed the chair in at her table and walked over to Dr. Goodman's office. His office was located in the administrative section of the Jeffersonian Institute, and required a brief trip out doors. The cool early morning breeze felt good to Brennan and briefly lifted her spirits as she walked to Goodman's domain.

The door to his office was well worn wood, with staining around his name, where his predecessor's use to be. Brennan briskly rapped on the door and waited to be called into the room. The answer was swift, "Enter."

"You wanted to see me Dr. Goodman?"

Dr. Goodman was seated behind his desk with a file folder in his hands, "Yes, Dr. Brennan please have a seat."

Taking her seat, "Is this very important Dr. Goodman, I do have several remains from Limbo waiting for me this morning…"

"Yes, I am afraid that it is…"  
"Ok"

"FBI Deputy Director Cullen called me this morning asking for our help on a case. I agreed and he sent the file over. Having reviewed the file, I feel like you would be most valuable to the investigation."

"Dr. Goodman…"

He held up his hand to forestall any argument, "Dr. Brennan, this is not a request; the agent will be arriving sometime this morning. According to Deputy Director Cullen, he has never been here before, try not to scare him off on the first day…remember what happened last time…"

"Dr. Goodman, I cannot be expected to work at my full potential if I am paired with an inept field agent who can't tell the difference between an epicondyl and tuberocity…"

Leaning forward on his desk Dr. Goodman spoke with a warning tone, "Dr. Brennan, I am not above snowing you in with paper work…"  
"I don't know what that means…"

"And you don't want to. Good day Dr. Brennan, I will expect a report this afternoon on the progress you make with this agent," this was said as Goodman handed Brennan the case file.

"Yes sir," with this reply Brennan left his office, trying her best to tamp down on her ire. Dr. Goodman rarely treated her with anything other than the utmost respect, the meeting had left her feeling like a chastised undergrad and she was having trouble dealing with this.

She was still lost in thought when she ran into Angela Montenegro, her best friend and local forensic artist.

"Good morning Sweetie, you look upset, what happened?"

"We've been saddled with another FBI case, and some idiot agent is going to be here sometime this morning."  
Angela smiled, "Well maybe this time it will be a hot one?"

Brennan couldn't help but grin, "Somehow I doubt we would be that lucky. Besides are you dating someone?"  
"That doesn't mean I can't drool indiscriminately."

Brennan drew closer to Angela to continue the conversation, "So I kicked Peter out last night."

"Brennan, what happened?"

"Angela, I'm fine. It was the same issues again, and I decided I didn't want the hassle anymore. He is supposed to come by sometime today while I am at work to collect his things."

"So are we going to go celebrate your new freedom tonight?"

"I don't think so Ang…"  
"Oh come one Bren it will be so much fun. It will be a great way to get Peter off your mind."

"Let me think about it." With this Brennan darted around Angela to make her way to her office. She had several things she wanted to get completed before she was forced to work with this new agent. With the intention of working in solitude for as long as possible she closed the door behind her.

Angela watched as Brennan raced to her office and close the door, with a sigh the artist walked to her work station on the forensics platform to begin her work for the day. A skull from limbo was sitting on the work surface with newly placed tissue depth markers on it. Angela sat on her work stool and studied the skull, the markers were similar to Caucasoid characteristics, and with a basic image in mind Angela began sketching the person's head.

After about thirty minutes Angela was satisfied with the shape of the head and began sketching the nose. Her drawing was interrupted by the shrill beep of the alarm system signaling someone was coming up the platform stairs. Setting her sketch pad on the table she swiveled in the chair to face whoever was coming up.

Whatever greeting was on Angela's lips were quickly lost, as she took in the man striding toward her. He was tall, dark, and drop dead gorgeous, the badge hanging on his belt identified him as the FBI agent Brennan was expecting. 'She is one lucky duck' Angela thought as the agent came closer.

The man held out his badge and introduced himself, "Special Agent Seeley Booth, FBI; are you the bone lady?"

Angela's mouth gaped open for just a second before responding, "No, I'm Angela Montenegro, the Forensic artist. You are looking for Dr. Temperance Brennan, "this was said with an emphasis on Brennan's name. Angela didn't want to deal with the blood Brennan would spill if she heard this Special Agent Booth call her 'bone lady.' "I'll call her for you. " Angela picked up the office phone on her table and dialed Brennan's number.

"What is it Angela?"

"The agent is here." Angela hung the phone up.

"I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Ok sweetie," Angela turned from the phone to relay the message, "She'll be out in ten minutes."

Agent Booth nodded his head, and began scanning his surroundings. The lab was certainly everything the other agents had told him it would be like; shiny, clean, and supper creepy. The platform was in the center of a large room surrounded by offices lining the walls. He could tell some rooms were private offices, because those windows were covered in blinds. In one of the open rooms stood a tall gangly youth measuring something on a skeleton and in another was a man studying a projected picture of a bug of some kind. 'Yep this place is definitely creepy,' Booth thought silently to himself.

As he continued waiting he thought back to the advice the older agents on his floor had given him. Agent Perenky had been particularly helpful, "Booth, heard you were going to the Jeffersonian to work with the super squints. The best way to handle them is let them do all the talking and don't ask questions. Oh and if you can help it don't work with the head bone lady, she's the worst."

The shrill beeping of the platform security brought Booth back to the present as a woman walked up on the platform. Booth studied her as she walked toward him, 'was this the anthropologist?' In all the advice his fellow agents had given him, no one mentioned that she was hot.

The woman walked over to where Angela was seated and faced him, "You must be Agent Booth."

Booth stepped forward and extended his hand in greeting, "Yes, Special Agent Seeley Booth, I'm pleas.."  
Brennan quickly interrupted him, "Agent Booth, I am Dr. Temperance Brennan. You can have the remains and the complete case file sent here. We will call you with our conclusions within the week." Brennan started to walk away, confidant in the fact that the agent now understood that his presence was neither needed nor wanted here at the lab.

His arrogant voice carried across the platform, "What makes you think I will be sending the remains or case file here?"

This made Brennan stop and turn to have him again, "If you want our help solving this case, you can have those items shipped here. Agent Booth we are very efficient here, if you want our cooperation you can follow my instructions, if not then feel free to find another forensics lab to work with." Once again she started to walk off.

"Dr. Goodman assured the FBI we would have your full cooperation in this investigation and that we could maintain full custody of all evidence."

"Agent Booth if you will follow me, we can go to Dr. Goodman and have this obvious misunderstanding alleviated."

Brennan strode off the platform and toward the door, assuming that the agent was following her. Agent Booth quickly close the space between the two and followed Brennan to Dr. Goodman's office.

Brennan rapped loudly on the door and shouted through the wood, "Dr. Goodman, we need to speak with you."

"Enter," was the muffled reply.

Brennan whipped the door open and strode angrily into his office, "Please inform Agent Booth that we will be unable to aid in his investigation if he will not send the evidence we need to our lab."

With a deep sigh, "Dr. Brennan, I am sure you recall the incident with Dr. Jaimison. The FBI is, understandably, reluctant to make the same mistake, therefore for the time being we work with them under their terms. Which means, Dr. Brennan, you will go to the FBI lab for initial examination. "

Agent Booth smiled smugly at Dr. Brennan. Seeing this Dr. Goodman spoke to him, "However, I am sure your supervisor would agree that allowing our lab access to the tissue samples and x-rays would be a perfectly acceptable compromise in this situation."

"I can certainly ask D.D. Cullen and email you his answer."

"That would be a most acceptable solution. Thank you Agent Booth."

Seeing that Goodman wasn't going to be any help to her Brennan walked out of the office and began pacing in the hall. Booth followed her out, "Alright, I parked my car in the visitor's lot. Grab your bag and meet me there in five minutes Bone Lady." With that he strode down the hall to the exit to wait for the good doctor out in the parking lot.

Brennan stood in shock for a few moments, "What did that Neanderthal just call me?" Shaking her head she walked back to her office to grab her bag, before the agent came back to get her. She had a thousand thoughts running through her head as she went out to where Booth was standing, one kept coming to the forefront, 'this is going to be a long case.'


	2. Chapter 2

First Impressions 2

**Disclaimer: I still don't own or profit from the characters from Bones…**

Angela was still seated at her work station on the platform when Brennan returned from her meeting with Goodman and the FBI agent. The anthropologist stormed through the doors of the medico-legal lab and bypassed the platform to head straight to her office. Angela stared at the doors waiting for Agent Booth to follow, but after several seconds determined that he wasn't going to be gracing them with his presence. Ever eager to know all the details Angela hurried over to Brennan's office to find out what had transpired.

Brennan was gathering her things and muttering to herself when Angela walked through the door.

"So what happened sweetie, did you get Goodman to kick that FBI guy out the door?"  
"Dr. Goodman believes that the FBI is justified in making their ridiculous request to maintain custody of all remains for the time being. This means we will have to suffer the presence of Agent Booth for a while longer."

Angela smiled devilishly, "Well it sounds like a deal, not only do we get a case, but some bonus eye candy as well…"

Brennan scowled in frustration, "No Ang, that man is the most infuriating human I have ever come in contact with. He called me the 'bone lady'."  
Seeking to calm her friend Angela replied, "Well maybe he forgot your name? Did you think of that sweetie?"

"Angela, there is only one forensic anthropologist in the time zone; one name should be easy to remember. I remember his name and there are hundreds of FBI agents in the city."

"Bren, just be the bigger person here and forgive him."

"He has to be at least 188 centimeters tall and 90 kilograms of muscle. Agent Booth is clearly the larger person."

Angela rolled her eyes, "Sweetie just let it go and try to work with him. Maybe if you play nice the FBI will start sending us the remains again and we can do without the agents underfoot all the time?"

Brennan smiled, "Now, that's something to look forward to," grabbing her bags she continued speaking, "Ang, have Zack finish filling out the forms in the files on my desk and tell him we will meet at 8:30 tonight to go over the first draft he submitted to me.."

"Ok, go solve the murder so the poor FBI can catch the bad guy."

Confidant that Angela would relay the message to Zack, Brennan opted to not run my modular skeletal storage to speak with him. Her allotted time to gather her things was coming to a close, and she didn't want to give that Agent Booth any reason to come back into her lab again.

The Drive to the Hoover Building was silent, both Booth and Brennan lost in their thoughts and covertly watching the other. Booth pulled down the short drive to the security guard station and into the parking garage. An elderly man stepped out of the building to greet the car.

"Agent Booth, back so soon?"

"Yeah Eddie, just had to pick something up and come right back."

Beside him Brennan was bristling at being referred to as a 'thing.'

"Looks like you brought back more than a thing. Who you got in there with you?"

"Oh this is the bone lady from the Jeffersonian; she is here to consult on a case."

"Ah ok, you two have a good day. I'll see you later."

"Thanks Eddie."

With that Eddie pushed the button to allow Booth and Brennan access to the parking garage. Booth navigated the garage to his assigned parking spot.

Remembering how Brennan had left him standing on the forensics platform Booth got out of his car and walked briskly toward the entrance. Brennan grabbed her bag and jogged to catch up with the infuriating agent.

Once in the building she had to pass through the guest security check-point while Booth walked in the employee gate and waited for her on the other side. After walking through a metal detector, having her bag searched, and being "wanded" she was finally able to join Agent Booth in the main lobby.

"Do you have all your things Bone Lady? Good lets go solve this case."

Brennan fell in step beside Booth has he led her to the morgue and forensics lab, "You know Agent Booth, I have a name."

"I'm aware of that."

"Then use it."

"Why?"

"Because 'Bone Lady' is condescending and derogatory."

Booth opened the door to the forensics lab as he replied, "But it's so you…"

Brennan walked into the forensics lab and took in her surroundings. It was certainly nothing like the lab at the Jeffersonian, the room carried the stench of chemicals and bodies. One side of the room was filled with chemical workstations and ventilation hoods with fans droning. Several lab techs were performing various experiments at their respective stations; none looked away from their work to study the new comers in the lab. On the other side of the lab were three autopsy stations, complete with sinks and supply cabinets. A tall Asian man was studying the only set of remains in the lab.

The man stood up to greet the Brennan and Booth as they approached his area.

"Booth, is this the forensic anthropologist?"

"Hi Yang, this is Dr. Temperance Brennan the Jeffersonian's top bone lady."

Agent Yang turned to Brennan with a wide smile on his face, "Dr. Brennan it's a pleasure to meet you. I found the article you wrote in last month's forensics journal truly fascinating."

"Yes, the topic of forensic identification is fascinating. Can you bring me up to date on the victim?"

If the agent was surprised by Brennan's abrupt mannerisms, he didn't show it, he merely rounded the autopsy table and began rattling off details.

"Male, approximately 185 centimeters tall, 80 kilograms. Dentals matched missing person case, Jason Forts. We are estimating time of death at 3 weeks ago."  
Brennan didn't answer, just studied the body.

The body was definitely male; the pelvis was sharply pointed and visible under the desiccated flesh. Bruising was evident in spite of the pervasive lividity, the remaining flesh also showed signs of sharp force trauma. The distinguishing features of the face were missing due to scavenging and insect activity.

"Agent Yang, did your people collect insect samples?"

"Of course Dr. Brennan."  
"Have those sent to Dr. Jack Hodgins at the Medico-Legal lab, he can give us a more precise time line."

Agent Yang looked to Booth for approval, when he received a nod from the more senior agent, he walked off to get the samples ready for transport.

"So what have we got there bone lady?" Booth asked after Yang was out of the room.

"Don't call me 'bone lady.'

"You really don't like that do you?"

"No, I don't. I've told you that already."  
"Well then I'll have to come up with something else."

"Agent Booth, my name will suffice."  
"Ok anyway, what do you think about the body?"

"Their statistics are accurate. Male, 20-30 years of age, dead approximately three weeks. You can see bruising along the upper torso, neck and head. There is sharp force trauma evident on the clavicle, humorous, ulna, radius, and costal bones." As she spoke she indicated each site on the body.

"Can you repeat that in English?"

"He was beat up and cut up." Brennan said with a sigh. It was really irritating having to repeat herself. She was using basic scientific terminology; didn't they teach these agents anything at Quanitco?

"Can you tell what he was attacked with?"

"I can once I get pictures and x-rays sent to the Jeffersonian."

"So does that mean you're done here?"

"For now, my team and I can analyze the pictures and x-rays and give you a more complete picture of the incident. It might help if we have pictures of the suspects, we could match the individual with the evidence."  
"That's staying out of your territory, you get me the evidence and I will match it to a suspect," Booth said as he ushered Brennan out of the lab and back into the elevators.

After the doors of the elevator closed Brennan turned to Booth, "What do you mean 'straying out of our territory'. We are investigating a crime…"

"No, you are doing lab work, I am investigating the crime. You stick with your bones thing and I'll stick to the cop thing…", Booth's eyes lit up as a perfect nickname for the aggravating scientist came to mind," Now, that's a perfect nickname for you, Bones!"

"Bones? What's wrong with my name?"

"Nope, not gonna happen, you're Bones now. It fits you…"

Brennan's face flushed with a combination of irritation and embarrassment, "Agent Booth, this is rid…"

"Bones, why don't you drop the 'agent' bit? There are so many agents around, it's going to get really old saying 'agent this' and agent that'. Just call me Booth."

The conversation continued down the hall to the parking garage, "Agent Booth, I prefer to keep our relationship professional."  
"Bones, what we have isn't a relationship; it's a forced work detail. You stay in the lab and I stay in the streets, we get this done as painlessly as possible."

"Fine," Brennan replied, slamming the car door for emphasis. They rode back to the Jeffersonian in silence; Brennan reading the full case file Booth had in the car, and Booth weaving through traffic.

When he pulled them into the visitors parking lot, Brennan decided to try for one last time to be courteous to Booth, "Booth, I'll call your office when we finish our analysis."

Booth smiled when she used just his last name, maybe they could work together after all, "And if I finish with the interviews before I hear from you I'll bring my notes back for you to review. See you later, Bones."

Brennan's eyes flared, "Don't call me Bones."

Booth didn't reply, just pulled out of the parking space and left Brennan standing alone.

Brennan pulled her bag farther up on her shoulder and trekked back into the Jeffersonian, and the medico-legal lab. After swiping her card and entering the lab, she called out across the room, "I need everyone in the bone room now."

Tuesday 6:35 pm

Brennan surveyed her four colleagues seated around her in the lab's lounge. They were enjoying a sip of the alcohol Dr. Hodgins was brewing in his office and discussing the progress they had made that day. Dr. Hodgins had determined that time of death was 19 days prior to the discovery of the body based on bug ratios; Dr. Brennan and Zack had identified the murder weapon as a hatchet; and Angela had used her new computer simulator to determine the attacker's height. All the group needed now was Booth with a list of suspects for them to compare with their results.

As Angela and Dr. Hodgins were packing their bags to leave, the lounge phone began beeping. The caller ID showed the number was from the FBI building, Brennan picked up the phone.

"Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab, Dr. Brennan speaking."

"Ah Bones, good news, we were able to identify the assailant and I'm on my way to pick him up now. "  
"Don't call me bones, and don't you need our findings before you make an arrest?"

"No, just type up a report or whatever and I'll send someone to pick it up in the morning."

"Booth I wouldn't make an arrest until you have confirmed with our findings."

"How do you propose I do that?"

"Can't you hold the suspect until morning? I'll come to the FBI building first thing in the morning, confirm your suspect with our findings, and have the report turned in my noon."

"Fine, but this is just a waste of time. You know you are an exasperating woman there Bones." Booth sighed before he hung up his cell phone.

"Don't call me Bones." Brennan groused into the now dead phone line.

****Please R&R****


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Yep, still don't own Bones (you know it's getting really depressing having to write that each chapter)**

Brennan hung the phone up and silently counted to ten before turning to face her colleagues. She and her coworkers had spent the entire day studying and analyzing the samples ad evidence from Booth's case, and then just when they had made progress, he wanted to completely disregard them and finish the case without them! The primary function of the forensics department was the identification of ancient remains, and they had neglected all of their outstanding cases to do this investigation, there was no way Brennan was going to allow her teams efforts to be swept under the preverbal rug.

After several moments of staring at her bosses back Angela decided to break the silence, "Was that Booth?"

The spell seemingly broken, Brennan turned around and began gathering the papers of the FBI file, "yes"

"So what happened?"

"He decided that evidence was obviously unimportant and was going to make an arrest that would surely jeopardize the case."

"What?" This from Dr. Hodgins, who was, in addition to the "bug and slime guy", also the resident conspiracy theorist, "The FBI is obviously plotting a cover-up, I knew the pattern of cuts on the bone couldn't be coincidence, this murderer must be working for…"

Before Dr. Hodgins could get full swing into his tirade, Brennan held up a hand to silence the scientist, "No Dr. Hodgins, Booth has agreed to wait until we can compare his suspect with our findings. There is no cover up," with the case file in hand, Brennan turned to Zack, "Zack lets meet in the morning to discuss the direction your thesis is going to take. Right now I need to speak with Goodman before he leaves. Angela, if you don't mind waiting around for me I think a night of celebrating is in order."

It took Brennan approximately 35 minutes to vent her frustration to Dr. Goodman. To give the man credit, he sat through her tirade with a stoic expression and said very little to interrupt her. When she seemed to have finished he finally spoke,

"Dr. Brennan I am not sure what you expect me to do in this situation. Our involvement in the investigation of crimes is to simply provide the FBI an expert analysis of evidence, beyond that they have control over when and how to use that information. If they decide to make idiot decisions, we are not held responsible."

Dr. Goodman's remarks alleviated some of the frustration Brennan was feeling and she was actually able to smile as she departed his office.

"Thank you Dr. Goodman"

"Good evening Dr. Brennan."

**Across Town in the Hoover Building**

After detaining Jared Fort in relation to the murder of his brother, Booth decided to get a brief workout before heading home. He quickly changed into a pair of sweats and a shirt and headed out to the weight room. Seated at one of the bench press machines was Agent Perenky already doing reps. Booth sat on the bench next to his and dialed up the proper amount of weight for his to press. Booth was able to get several presses down before the other agent spoke to him.

"So Booth, how did it go over at the space ship?"

"You were right; those people over there are a trip."

"How'd you like the Bone lady?"

"Dr. Brennan, she's an anal retentive ice queen, without a personality."

Perenky laughed, "Told you so. "  
"Yeah you did."

"But I tell you what, Ice queen or not, I'd tap that ass in a second if she gave me a second glance," Perenky's grin was slimy and kind of gave Booth the creeps.

"Hey man, have some respect, she's a lady."

Perenky sat up on his bench and watched Booth for a few seconds before replying, "No Booth, she's a squint, and a squint with an attitude problem at that. You give her an inch and she's gonna take a mile," with that thinly veiled warning, Perenky moved to the treadmill and turned it up to a brisk run.

Booth stopped his workout briefly to consider what Perenky had said, thinking back to the conversation they had shared earlier on the phone, and how she had quickly manipulated him into allowing her access to more things in the case. 'Well,' he concluded, 'tomorrow morning, I'll just have to set her straight."

**Wednesday 8:45am**

Brennan worked her way once again through the security check point and walked over to the receptionist's desk. She had a slight hang over from her night of celebrating with Angela, and when she finally arrived home last night she saw that Peter hadn't been to the apartment and that all of his things still cluttered her apartment; these two factors combined did not put her in the most charitable mood this morning. That being said, her attitude in dealing with the receptionist was less than cordial.

"Excuse me, receptionist lady, can you please tell me which floor I would find Special Agent Booth's office?"

The receptionist stared at Brennan for a moment, trying to determine if she was genuine or not. Apparently deciding to take her seriously the lady answered, "Booth is on the 10th floor," she also slid a visitor's pass across the desk surface for Brennan to wear while in the building.

Brennan clipped the tag to her lapel, and mentally added getting an employee card to the list of things she needed to discuss with Booth this morning, right after his attempt to shut her team out of the investigation.

When Brennan arrived on the tenth floor she quickly found Booth's office, the blinds were open and she could see a person matching Booth's general description seated at the desk. She knocked sharply on the door, and waited to be invited in.

The growled answer of, "come in," seemed to indicate that Booth was in no better mood than she that morning.

Booth didn't even look up from the paper he was reading when he spoke to her, "Bones, take seat."

"Don't call me Bones, and we need to talk Booth."

Still reading his paper, "Why am I suddenly filled with dread?" This was spoken with a blasé attitude.

"Booth, I have a doctorate in Forensic Anthropology. The information I gather from studying the evidence could be vital to your case. It's foolish for you to make act without confirming with our conclusions."

Booth looked up from his paper at this comment. After a few moments of contemplation he folded his paper and placed it on the ink mat on his desk, "So you think I'm foolish?"

"No, I haven't known you long enough to draw that conclusion; I think your actions yesterday were foolish."

Booth rounded the desk and walked angrily to the door, "Well it may interest you to know, Bones, that I have a degree in criminology. I was investigating and solving crimes just fine before you came into the picture. Now grab your stuff so we can ID this guy and get you the hell out of here," the last being said he flung open the door and strode down the hall.

Brennan picked up her file of reports and graphs and hurried to follow Booth. The agent's long legs and angry strides had already carried his halfway down the hall by the time she was able to catch up with him. They passed the room labeled, 'Interrogation 1' and entered the room immediately adjacent. One half the room was filled with electronic recording equipment, the other had a long table and chairs facing the window side of a two way mirror.

In the interrogation room was a shorter gentleman, looking rather haggard after his night spent in the FBI lock-up. Even sitting Brennan could see that his body size did not match the physical body type of their killer.

"Booth that man did not do this."

"What," was shouted near her ear.

Brennan turned to face Booth, "That man is far too short to have committed this murder."

Booth scoffed at her assertion, "You can't possibly know that."

It was Brennan's turn to be angry, "My team isn't wrong."

Booth just stared at her, still completely unconvinced

"Your victim was 185 centimeters tall; his attacker had to be at least 190. We know the victim was standing because after the blow to the clavicle he fell to his knees fracturing both patella. The rest of the blows show deeper trauma meaning the attacker had more leverage to swing the axe. Your suspect isn't tall enough to cause the blow with the victim standing, and couldn't exert the force once he was down. "  
Booth continued staring at the scientist, completely at a loss for what to say. He couldn't understand how she got these conclusions, and what they would mean for his case.

Brennan left the file strewn across the table and picked up her bag to leave the room, of course her nature wouldn't allow her to leave without one parting shot, "By the way, if I am going to keep coming here to save you from arresting the wrong suspect, I want an employee card," smiling when she saw Booth's shocked face Brennan turned and walked out of the interrogation room, intending to never return again.

**Wednesday 4:50 pm**

Brennan had returned from the FBI building and immediately closed herself in her office. The handmade 'do not disturb' sign she posted on the door after about thirty minutes discouraged any of her colleagues from checking in. Zack was disappointed that they wouldn't be reviewing his thesis again today, but quickly immersed himself in the preliminary inspection of a new case from limbo. Dr. Hodgins busied himself with silt profiles and the particulates from Egyptology. Angela printed and saved facial reconstructions for Zack and then pretended to be busy for about an hour.

When she could no longer take the suspense of not knowing about her morning, Angela knocked tentatively on Brennan's door, "Sweetie, are you in there?"

The muffled reply from inside was, "Where else would I be?"

Angela smiled at that, "Well can I come in?"  
"Oh yeah, sure."

Angela pushed the door open to find Brennan seated at her computer with several anthropology textbooks strewn across her desk, the office was messy, a very un-Brennan like characteristic.

"Bren, is everything ok?"

"Yes Angela, did you need something?"

Ignoring her friend's question Angela asked one of her own, "What are you working on?"

Finally breaking from her thoughts Brennan looked up at Angela, "I'm writing a book."

"A text book?" Angela asked gesturing at the texts opened on her desk.

"No, a crime novel."

Angela smiled in surprise and pulled at chair closer to the desk to sit in, "What brought this on?"

"Solving a crime really spurred my imagination. It's only natural, considering my vast experience in writing for various journals that I would eventually expand into different media…"

"I'm sure you're right…"

Whatever Angela was about to say was cut off by the arrival of a certain FBI Agent, "Bones can we talk?"

"Are you here to apologize, and don't call me Bones."

Angela interjected, "Bones?"

Brennan turned to her friend, "Angela, can you give us a moment?"

The artist face split with a sly smile, "If it were me I'd ask for more than a moment. But sure sweetie, we'll talk later."

After the artist had left Brennan turned back to Booth, "What do you want?"

"You were right."

"Well of course I was right."

"You know, you have to be the most arrogant, pain in the ass scientist I have ever met."

"Did you come here to insult me?" Brennan asked with more than a little venom in her voice.

"No, I came to bring you a employee card for the Hoover."

"You finally saw the wisdom in my argument?"

Booth chuckled mirthlessly, "I thought you deserved some kind of reward for saving the FBI from a false arrest law suit."

"Can I access the forensics lab with it?"

"No, you still need an agent for that."

"So this is basically useless?"

Booth rolled his eyes and moved toward the door to avoid a time consuming argument that was sure to ensue, "Your welcome Bones," with that said he pulled the office door closed and walked quickly out of the lab. If God was merciful he would never have to set foot in that building again.

Brennan sat at her computer for a few silent moments trying to cool down from the latest confrontation. She had never met a man who could push her buttons quite like him. Thinking to solve the problem she picked up the phone and dialed the bone room. When Zack answered she gave him simple instructions, "Zack, I don't want you to put Agent Booth through to my phone should he call again."

"Ok Dr. Brennan…" Zack sounded confused, but she knew he would follow her directive regardless.

As she continued typing her story she decided that if there was such a thing as luck, Agent Booth would never set foot in her lab again…

End

***I hope you liked this story. Let me know what you think, what can I improve on and what did you like? Please R&R***


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